Pleading to Yeshe Tsogyel

“Mother of all victorious, Dharmatu Samantabhadri,
So benevolent, the only mother who protects the subjects of Tibet,
Holder of supreme power, leader of the dakinis of great ecstasy,
Yeshe Tsogyel, we prostrate ourselves at your feet.

May it be by Your Grace that all external, internal, and hidden obstacles may be overcome.
May by Your Grace the lives of the masters be long,
May by Your Grace this age of disease, famine and war cease.
May by Your Grace the spread of curses, spells and black magic cease.
May by Your Grace life, glory and prajna increase.
May by Your Grace our desires be spontaneously fulfilled.

(written by Khakhyap Dorje (Karmapa XV), who, when he was a boy, was fed by the Dakines.

May virtue and goodness triumph!”

Translated by the Vajravairochana Translation Commission, with permission to be used).

This song highlights the importance of Yeshe Tsogyel, especially for the Dzogchen path of Samanthabhadra, the primordial Buddha of Nyingma. First, she is referred to as the “mother of all victorious ones,” the Buddhas of the three times, which is an epithet for Prajna Paramita, the “omnipresent wisdom” of the traditional sutras. She is a mother, because by attaining enlightenment and acquiring wisdom, we and all conscious beings will become buddhas.

Then, she is referred to as Samanthabhadri, the feminine aspect of the Primordial Buddha of Nyingma, Samanthabhadra, also known as the Most Benevolent; therefore, it represents the feminine aspect of innate goodness.

It is also referred to as “the very good one”, as it feeds the practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. As the dakini of wisdom, she is the one who holds the ultimate gift of enlightenment. She is the queen of all dakinis of the “great ecstasy”, those who awaken the deepest experience of the wisdom of ecstasy and emptiness, the highest realization of meditation. Vidyadhara said of mahasukha or great ecstasy: “mahasukha is the actual experience of ecstasy – a total experience, physical and psychic, of the joy that arises from being beyond discursive thoughts, completely into the realm of non-thought. The one who gets here unites with the state of awakening beyond duality.” (The Buddha’s Heart, 1991)

Yeshe Tsogyel, Woman

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According to all Tibetan stories about her, Yeshe Tsogyel was a legendary woman who lived in Tibet in the eighth century AD. Like the legendary Buddha Shakyamuni, she benefited from a birth from a woman’s body, and had a human life and death, becoming an enlightened being for a lifetime.
As a princess of the Karchen kingdom, she married the king of Tibet, Trisong Detsen, becoming one of his queens. Her spiritual master was Padmashambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, who is considered to play an essential role in the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet. Yeshe was his most important disciple, and after his death, she carried on the teachings of Vajrayana, spreading them throughout Tibet. Thus, she became another significant master, indispensable to the work and success of Guru Rinpoche. Yeshe also has a special role as an example of an enlightened woman, in the context in which not many women reach this state in a lifetime.

Yeshe Tsogyel was chosen by Sakyong as Tara or Prajna Paramita precisely because she was a real woman, from Tibet, and not an abstract, non-human symbol. According to the Nyingma texts, Yeshe has attained the condition of Buddha, the immortality of the diamond body, and continues to appear in visions of those who harbor a pure aspiration.

Yeshe Tsogyel as a feminine principle

Beyond her life as a woman, Yeshe Tsogyel is inseparable from her manifestation as a feminine principle – the non-dual wisdom that assumes a feminine form (or, in other cases, a masculine one), if it is symbolically represented.
Thus, the female Yeshe Tsogyel also represents an emanation of the enlightened feminine principle, just as Guru Rinpoche represents the emanation of the enlightened masculine principle.

Feminine wisdom and masculine power of action represent two axes of enlightened consciousness; Wisdom without means of action is ineffective, and power of action without wisdom is chaotic.
Only when both are cultivated through spiritual practice and are experienced in inseparable union, then and only then can the state of enlightenment of a being flourish.

In the Pantheon of Tibetan Buddhism, Yeshe Tsogyel manifests herself on three levels: in an incarnate, physical female form (nirmana kaya), she appears as the princess of Karchen and then as the queen of Tibet.

In symbolic form (sambhoga kaya), she appears as Vajrayogini, one of the most important women – yidam (deities used as a support in meditations) in Tibetan Buddhism, who appear in Vajrayana ritual practices along the lines of Shambal Buddhism.

And in its most subtle, formless essence of the aspect of boundless space (dharma kaya), Yeshe Tsogyel is the Samanthabhadri, the female counterpart of Buddha Samanthabhadra, the first, the essence of goodness and goodness, the essential nature of the mind, and the ultimate source of the spiritual path in Nyingma Buddhism.

As for the story of her life and its symbolism, these two aspects – as a female being and the manifestation of the Buddha at the highest levels (trikaya) – are inextricably interwoven.

For example, the story of the conception and birth of Yeshe Tsogyel

is said twice, once for her manifestation as a feminine principle, and once again to describe her human parents and how Yeshe Tsogyel was conceived. In her dual aspect as an ordinary human being and the triple manifestation of the Buddha, Yeshe Tsogyel does not differ from any other woman except in that she has recognized her true inner nature. Thus, she becomes a model and spiritual guide for other human beings.

As an aspect of the female wisdom of the spiritual path, she also has the role of protector of the spiritual path of the Vajrayana practitioner.
It ensures the integrity of the teachings, the protection of the masters and disciples, the place and time of Vajrayana practices, and their transmission.
Yeshe has the responsibility to guarantee the pure perpetuation of the teachings, and the endurance of the community of disciples of this spiritual path. This is the reason why Vajrayana’s disciples implore His Grace in their prayers.

Biographies of the Sacred Life of Yeshe Tsogyel

There are three English translations of Yeshe Tsogyel’s sacred biography or namthar (rnam-thar), listed in the order recommended for study.
1) Gyalwa Changchub and Namkhai Nyingpo, “The Lotus-Born Lady: The Life and Enlightenment of Yeshe Tsogyel,” translated by the Padmakara Translation Commission (Boston, Shambala Publications, 1999). This is accompanied by an excellent introduction.
2) Keith Dowman, “The Celestial Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of Mrs. Yeshe Tsogyel” (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1996). This translation contains a lot of additional information and explanations.
3) Nam-mkha’i snying-po, “The Mother of Knowledge: The Illumination of Ye-shes mTsho-rgyal,” oral translation by Tarthang Tulku (Oakland, CA, Dharma Press, 1983).